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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Radio Prank Pulled On New Bolivian President |
| 2005-12-25 |
| A church-controlled radio station has apologised for a stunt in which a radio comic posing as Spain's prime minister called Bolivia's future president. Spain and Bolivia have accepted the apology from Cope radio. The station's comic, pretending to be Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, telephoned Evo Morales. He implied that Bolivia and Spain would join a left-wing axis involving Cuba and Venezuela. "We are sincerely happy that you are triumphantly joining the new order that we wish to set up in Spain and Latin America, Evo," the spoof Zapatero said. He also congratulated Mr Morales on winning last weekend's Bolivian election. Cope, owned by the Spanish Bishops' Conference, is strongly critical of the policies of Spain's Socialist Government. During the six-minute conversation, later broadcast on Cope, the fake Zapatero also invited Mr Morales to Spain. When Mr Morales said he had received many congratulatory phone calls, the fake Zapatero said he imagined he had not been called by US President George W Bush. "He hasn't called me yet either, and I've been in office two years," the fake Zapatero added. The real Mr Zapatero angered the US by pulling Spanish troops out of Iraq immediately after taking office in 2004. The hoax phone call angered the Bolivian and Spanish governments and revived tension between Spain and the Catholic Church, which has sharply criticised Spain for policies such as legalising gay marriage. Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, going over the heads of the Catholic bishops who own the radio station, called in the Vatican's envoy to Spain on Thursday. He asked the envoy to prevent anything similar happening again. Spain formally apologised to the Bolivian government over the incident on Thursday. Cope, bowing to demands from Spain and Bolivia, issued a second statement on Friday apologising "to the people and institutions affected". "The board of this station wishes to clarify that it has never been its intention to lack respect for the president-elect of Bolivia, nor hinder the normal development of the international relations of our country," it said. Note that they didn't say what the President of Bolivia's *reply* was to the offer of joining a "left-wing axis". |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #7 Radio pranks are serious business in the Spanish-speaking world. Just after Orson Welles' infamous "War of the Worlds" broadcast in 1939, a station in Quito Ecuador presented the same program in Spanish. It predictably set off a panic. Instead of calling the producer on the carpet and rebuking him in the newspapers, as happened in the US, the locals simply burned the station down. |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2005-12-25 22:56 |
| #6 I wish I could take credit for that but I can't. I think AP came up with it. |
| Posted by: Phil 2005-12-25 22:48 |
| #5 the mean one - Who's Afraid of Betty Crocker? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-12-25 20:36 |
| #4 Betty Davis Crocker Crat :> |
| Posted by: Leon Clavin 2005-12-25 20:19 |
| #3 You can hear the audio here (in Spanish). http://www.lamanana.com.es/audios/risa-211205.mp3 Morales also mentions that he was told by Spanish Sec. of State, Bernardino Leon, that Spain would double aid to Bolivia if he won. More on that here http://www.spainherald.com/2373.html. |
| Posted by: Austin 2005-12-25 19:45 |
| #2 But... you mean the Sacred Holy Leftist Betty Davis Crocker Crat Internationalists are suddenly muzzling the freedom of the press? |
| Posted by: Phil 2005-12-25 19:23 |
| #1 Radio Prank Pulled On New Bolivian President "Hello? Say, do you have Prince Albert in a can?.." |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-12-25 19:06 |